Winter Wish
by Sharo
Summary: An evening heist goes wrong... and friends of the kaitou have to deal with the consequences. And Aoko. *Chapter Two Up!* Aoko and Kaito have a talk...
1. Winter Wish

Oh-So-Important Disclaimer: Kaitou Kid and all his friends don't belong to me. Never did, never will; I'm just borrowing them for a little while... (they'll all hate me in the morning anyways) 

*sings off-key* "All I learned of Kaitou Kid comes from fan-fiction!" ^_^ _Please_ excuse horrible errors on my part, or minor OOC-ness if it comes across. All I hold in my sticky-trap mind of the Kaitou Kid I've learned from the wonderful fanfictions posted, the few translated arcs online, and the one brief Conan movie he took part in. Constructive critisms are **always** welcome!! (and encouraged!) *bows* 

~*~*~*~*~ 

**Winter Wish**  
by Sharo  


~*~*~*~*~ 

She shoved herself away, clapping her hands childishly over her ears. "I'm not listening to this! I refuse to have anything to do with that- that **thief**!" 

Hakuba moved towards her, but Akako was much quicker. 

*SLAP* 

The momentary tears of physical pain in Aoko's eyes were **nothing** compared to the deep dew drops falling like broken crystals from Akako's. Her lips moved soundlessly for a moment before she could speak. 

Even then, it was barely an icy whisper. 

"How **could** you?" 

Akako held her rival's eyes, refusing to dilute the strong emotions she was barely holding inside for the sake of Hakuba. Aoko was silent in the face of her cold fury. 

"You are the only one he cares about, the only one he trusts, then only one he would kill himself to protect. He would do absolutely **anything** for you, and you would deny him life because he did not share **one secret** with you?!" 

Aoko tried to speak up. "I didn't-" 

"You **did**!" Akako glowered over her, her height an easy advantage. "You are the **only** one he will listen to! **You** are the only one who can call him back from the darkness he wraps around himself. And **you** are the only one who yet refuses to help **him**. YOU. ARE. NOT. WORTHY. OF HIM." 

Aoko stepped back with each forceful jab of Akako's long fingers, finally butting up against the far wall. 

Akako took a single step back, Hakuba's hands firmly restraining her from approaching Nakamori further. Spitting at the girl's feet, she stepped roughly away from the detective. 

Aoko sank wearily to the floor, still leaning heavily against the wall. "Why don't you go 'save' him? You've chased him long enough." Her voice turned bitter. "Both of him." 

Akako sent her one last hateful glare, her words enough to melt steel. "If I could, don't you think I would have already?" She turned away, her words more to herself than not. "All the power at my control, and I cannot save one I love. And I will still **try** until it **kills** me." 

Even Hakuba was taken back by her final statement, allowing her to walk away freely. 

In the silence that was left, he could find no words to either comfort or protect the girl before him. "It's your choice, you know," he finally told her, directing his words to the empty corridor. "You can help your childhood friend, Kuroba Kaito, or you can deny your sworn enemy the Kaitou Kid. But either way you choose, you choose for both. There is no more distinction." 

Hakuba sighed internally. This outcome was no more satisfactory to him than to the rest of the police force. Or Nakamori-tachi. Turning quietly, he slipped away from the crying girl, still sitting on the cold floor. 

Outside the hospital, snow was gently falling, the flakes so warm as to melt the instant they touched skin or ground. The temperature was mild, and the air still enough a feather could be held in the palm of one's open hand. 

_Well, Kuroba? What do you plan to do now?_ Hakuba stuck his hands in the pockets of his warm jacket and idly wondered what would interest him here if the Kid were gone. 

_You got a little lucky, Kuroba. A private challenge meant no publicity, so your name's not all over the tabloids yet. Nakamori's task force is sworn to secrecy for now, and the only other people who know are the three of us._

He thought again of Aoko's first look of betrayal when she had seen her friend, Kuroba Kaito at the initial scene. The hasty bandages on his head and arms hadn't mattered - only the soiled white cape under his shoulders, the crimson tie loosed about his neck, and the crushed top hat beside him received her attention. She never asked the question that was on everyone else's lips, never made the first accusation there. Worry gave quick place to horror, gave way to disgust, then betrayal. _When she turned and ran from him then, I wondered how far this would go._

That had been three days ago. 

The doctor had looked hopeful at first; there was no coma, only swelling enough around the brain to keep him from being comfortable awake. But they hadn't been able to wake him. His heart kept its' beat, he still breathed under his own power. Reflex tests came back positive, brain waves proved he wasn't a vegetable, but they couldn't wake him up. 

Sometimes, his body would respond to people in the room. His mother would always hold his hand, and his hand would clasp onto hers. _I swear he flinched the first time Akako touched him._

She had been spouting something at the time about 'calling him back', but he seriously doubted she really had any idea of what she was trying to do. But if it made her happy and she left him alone, then fine. As long as she didn't disturb the boy. 

She had collapsed the third time she'd visited, merely after touching his still hand. Even recovered, her face was pale and withdrawn - not the overconfident, proud girl he had known in school and at the occasional Kid heist. 

_Kid - Kuroba. I'm sorry it ended like this. As often as we've joked about it, you're no Lupin. You've friends and family- a history. You can't just 'disappear' after this to elude the police. There's just no easy way around it. _

And that's assuming you wake up. 

~*~*~*~*~ 

_It was supposed to rain that night, not snow. An easy heist, a clear getaway, and only a little damp moisture to care about. _

Sometimes Mother Nature is just as cruel as some say she is. Slowly falling temperatures went unnoticed by most; warm winds from the south still following shoppers and police alike. Not until after sundown did anyone begin to notice a change. The wind shifted, and our white flurries began. And by that time, we were all inside starting our merry dance with the Phantom Thief Kid. 

Rooftops are really not made for running, in any weather. Certainly not in icy sleet, pursued by a good quantity of the Nakamori KID force. Churches don't have the flattest tops to begin with; tall spires jutting up at inconvenient places, and not to mention the peaks for every stained-glass window. 

All it took was one patch of ice and an unlucky step, and gravity takes care of the rest. Our Phantom Thief had chosen to run across the peaks of the roof, sure in his footing and that the ice wouldn't gather there. If not for the frozen puddle where two peaks joined, he would have made it; escaped the police and gratefully passed on the opportunity to take a free ride to the hospital. The other problem with an uneven church roof- at the top peaks, there are no railings. Nothing to catch yourself on when you fall, not even the ground. 

His foot had slipped in mid-stride, sliding him neatly backwards on his run. An extended arm wasn't long enough to reach the downward-sloped roof, and a clumsy elbow hit the peak before he started to slide. Where otherwise I doubt that he would have had a problem, it's hard to regain one's balance when sliding off of a roof quite backwards. I'm sure he never saw the chimney that beaned him in the back of the head, or the edge when he reeled from the blow. 

_I'm not used to this... This feeling of helplessness. There is nothing I can physically to- for the Kid or Kuroba- and it's beginning to seriously concern me. Watching Aoko-kun is nearly as bad. While I didn't expect her to deal with it rationally, I at least expected her to take it a little better. She and Kaito have 'been an item' for years, from what I understand. Seeing her reject him so totally because of a thief's night habits is... I mean, she's always professed to hate the Kid but... _

Well, hell. I thought she knew. Or at least suspected. But she didn't have a **clue**. And that look on her face... 

**This** was the reason Kaito never wanted her to find out. 

Damn. 

Aoko meant the absolute world to him, and she was so utterly clueless. 

... 

Clicking heels behind him alerted him to the presence of company. Akako strode angrily away from the building, heat seeming to steam from the mink coat she wore. Hakuba watched her silently, carefully gauging her mood. 

"That... ooh!!" 

Definitely mad. Pissed, even. 

He just gave her a small smile and turned back to the snow. "Aoko-kun has to make her own decisions. We can't make them for her. She has-" 

"All she **has** to do is go **in** there, dammit!" Her anger was quickly fading, melting away in the falling snow. "That's all he needs... just- just **her**." The weary slump in her shoulders all but screamed what she'd never admit to anyone. She couldn't do whatever is was she thought she could do to 'help' him. She couldn't do it- but her rival in affections could. Could, but refused. And it hurt. 

Shaky fingers brought a small lighter towards her face, briefly illuminating the thin, white cigarette perched between wine red lips. 

"I didn't know you smoked." 

Smoldering eyes met his. "I don't." 

"Ah." 

He let her smoke that one in silence, but took the lighter from her when she attempted to light a second. "Dirty habit, smoking." 

A soft sigh. "Aa." 

And around them, snow continued to fall. 

~*~*~*~*~ 

It was hours before Akako decided to go home, still muttering curses under her breath, but inclined now to let Aoko live the next time they saw each other. Midnight had come and passed, leaving only the thickening snow to tell the passage of time. Hakuba wandered through the quiet halls for a short while, warming his hands as his heart refused to. _It's only the theif... why _should_ I care so much? Merely because **I** didn't catch him? Or because I don't know who will be more hurt by the situation - Aoko or Kuroba..._

Left to his own dark thoughts, he found his way again to the outside. Someone was waiting for him. 

"Aoko-kun?" 

Her face was still puffy and red, testament to the harsh trial she was going through. Hands clasped tightly before her, she couldn't meet his eyes. 

When she spoke, her voice came barely louder than a whisper. 

"I've decided." 

Hakuba moved closer, glad that for this moment Akako was gone. "And?" he inquired gently. 

"I-I don't want to lose him, Hakuba-kun. He's been- my best friend forever. Even if he is mean, and teases me, and flips my skirt, and makes me chase him with the mop..." He opened his arms to her, and she buried her face in his flannel, her tears flowing freely again. "I don't want to lose him..." 

Hakuba held her close, silently offering his strength. "The red thread of fate, once broken, can never be repaired." he quoted softly. 

Aoko nodded against him, understanding. "I couldn't bear that... not ever laughing with him again, or watching him, chasing him... I couldn't." 

He let her cry, but his mind was clear, not wishing to be caught up in her emotions. "And you'll accept him as the Kaitou Kid as well?" She stiffened a little in his arms, but he had to make her understand. "You can't choose between them, Aoko-kun. You have to be **sure**." 

"I-I know... I just..." She sniffled a bit, accepting his hankerchief to dry her eyes. "I just want to talk to him, to..." Her shoulders fell at her loss for words. 

"To chase him with a mop and beat it out of him?" 

Hakuba offered her a sincere smile at her startled, guilty one. "Yeah... kinda. I... miss him, you know? Even for the few days, thinking that I didn't want to ever speak to the jerk again- oops." She covered her mouth quickly. "I'm sorry..." 

Hakuba waved it off, starting to walk back inside. "Don't worry about it. Your father swears much worse, all of the time. And yes," he added before she could say anything. "You did mean it. He owes you quite a lot, Aoko-kun." 

Even with her reasurances, she hesitated before the door. "But can I... I don't know." she whispered. 

Hakuba placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Would you like some company? To just... talk?" _The offer stands, whenever you may need it._

"No, thank you, Hakuba-kun." She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "I have to do this, on my own." 

He nodded, not surprised in the least. "Just be honest. With yourself, and him. It will turn out all right." 

She paused one last time, hand on the door handle. "Arigato, Hakuba-kun. For everything." 

"Of course." 

Then she turned and entered the dimly lit room, closing the door softly behind her. 

~*~*~*~*~ 

She wiped the tears from her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. _Alright, let's not get all emotional again. He won't like it if I cry..._

Her eyes were drawn back to the bed, and the unmoving figure occupying it. _He's just so... still. It's wrong, in a way. He's always moving around, always so genki and energetic. Always ready with a trick or a prank to make someone smile._

_Right now, I wish **he** would smile. Smile and tell me that it's all right, that the last few days have been only a bad dream and that my best friend isn't really my most hated enemy.  
Except... I really can't hate him anymore, can I?_

She couldn't look away from his still figure, mentally picturing the energy he always had, the motion that was a part of him. Kuroba Kaito... and the Kaitou Kid. 

"Kaito... baka." 

She sighed aloud, just a little reassured by her voice in the otherwise vocal-less room. 

"You couldn't make this easy for me, could you? Couldn't just let me keep believing that my best friend wasn't constantly lying to me. That he wasn't the person I hated most. That he wasn't the thief that tried to steal my precious memory*, and constantly taunted my fath..er..." 

Her suddenly angry mind clamped on the sudden thought, pulsing in betrayal again. 

"Damn it, you **knew**!" Her voice was a furious whisper, not wanting to call the attention of either the nurses or the detective outside. 

"You of **all** people knew how much I missed my father! How he was never home, why he devoted himself to his job; you knew I hated it all!" Hot tears fell from her eyes again. "And you **knew** how much I hated the Kid for it... But I hated..." 

She leaned forward to put her head in her arms, resting against the bed. "I hated... **you**. For taking my father away from me. For not being there when he wasn't. For chasing the same stupid, illusive dream that my father was. What's so damn special about the Kid anyway...?" 

Large hands found her shoulders, pulling her back. 

"'Tousan?" 

Nakamori Ginzo cradled his daughter against him as she continued to cry. Hakuba had promised to let him know if and when his daughter would visit th- Kuroba. It wasn't difficult to sneak in the door, but he hadn't been planning to disturb her. 

Until he heard her talking to him. About **him**. And when he thought about it, it made a hell of a sense. He **had** been away from what was left of his family for a long time. Long hours planning and chasing after the Kid made for late nights and a lot of overtime. It paid the bills, it gave him ulcers, but it didn't make up for the lost time with his daughter. 

Aoko twisted in his arms to look up at his face, her tears mostly dried. "'Tousan, why are you here?" 

He almost squirmed under her gaze. "I... didn't think you would want to be alone right now." 

She sighed, looking back to the bed. 

"Why?" 

Nakamori was silent. _Why... what? Why me, or why him?_

"Why does he do it?" 

_Oh, **that**._ "You do know that he's not the original Kaitou Kid?" He tried to break it as gently as he could. 

Aoko stiffened in his arms, realization slowly dawning. Nakamori sighed as she studied the boy's face. 

"He's much too young to be the same thief I chased fifteen years ago, or even ten. Which means he took over after the original Kaitou disappeared." 

"But... why? Who was the original?" 

Nakamori shook his head. "We don't know. Kuroba-san says we have to ask her son. She won't tell us. But it explains some things, having two of them." He relaxed back into his chair as Aoko stood to bring another beside him. "But there are a lot of things we still don't know. What happened to the original? What ties did Kuroba have to him, assuming it **was** a 'him'?" He smiled at that quirk of thought. "Why did Kuroba decide to take up the same mantle? And the most important of all- Why does he do it? Why does he steal things, only to return them to their rightful owners?" 

Aoko continued to lean against her father, letting him support her as he talked. "There's so much I never learned about the thief... it really did surprise the hell out of me when he fell." 

"How... how did this happen?" 

"_Now_ you want to know?" He chuckled softly at her slow blush. "You're going to have to get used to it, you know. I don't think your friend will like you suddenly caring about the Kid. It won't look too good." 

Aoko gave her father a LOOK, torn between attempting to throttle him or finding a broom. "What?" 

Nakamori leaned back, a smug smirk creeping over his features. "Well, it's just been such a pain to chase down the thief all this time, to just have him literally slip into our hands. Like I said, there's an awful lot of questions that haven't been answered yet, and I don't think that either one of him will just hand out the answers. He's been leading me somewhere, and I think I've a very vague idea which path he's taking." He gave his daughter a confident wink. "So, in order for me to follow him, he has to be in a position to lead. Which he can't very well do from a prison cell." 

Aoko turned back towards the sleeping figure, conflicting emotions rushing through her heart. _Prison... he could go to prison... I didn't think of that... Or what of the other countries that the Kid has 'visited'? Won't they want to try him... but that wasn't **him**... will they care? What would they do... But... leading...? What....??_

Her father watched her growing concern. _This is the best I can do for you two... And for my men as well. We **all** want to find some answers, but we realize that sometimes you have to **work** for them, not just expect them to fall into your lap._

"So...?" Aoko let her hesitant query hang in the air. 

"So~o.... Kuroba Kaito's mother will be here to pick him up and take him home when he wakes. His friends will hopefully be around to wish him health, and remind him to be a little more careful when playing on his roof at home. And-" he had to smother another chuckle when she spun around to STARE at him, shocked. "And the police team that has been wandering around the hospital for the last few days have been investigating a case totally unrelated to the Kaitou Kid." He reached forward to gently tap the underside of her hanging chin. "Your face will freeze like that..." 

"B-but... the Kaitou...." 

Nakamori gave in, laughing lightly at her confusion. "The challenge was a private one- the church didn't want the media involved at all. The only would-be-spectators there were a few church members that were brought down to the basement and guarded while my team set up. No one there other than some of my men knew anything about the Kid heist, or what happened afterwards. Well," he amended, "and that Hakuba kid. Though why he chose to drag you and that other girl to a Kid heist is beyond me." 

Aoko seemed numbed by his news. "Akako insisted..." she murmured quietly. 

Nakamori waved her explanation away. "In any case, I've spoken with my team, and they've all agreed to keep it silent. The wanna-be detective and his strange girl have promised as well. Kinda' surprised me, I thought that boy wanted to catch the Kid just as bad..." 

It was Aoko's turn to smile, just a little. "But for the same reasons. He wanted to catch the Kid himself. To know the 'why'." 

Nakamori nodded. "Yeah, 'suppose." He gave her a small, slightly evil grin. "So... are you gonna' tell **him** when he wakes up?" 

Aoko shrugged. "Should I?" She dimmed, just a bit. "I don't know... It would take some getting used to... " 

Nakamori drew her in for a comforting hug. "I have all the excuses, if you want. I understand if you tell him, but the rest of the world won't know. For the records, his mother brought him in, after he fell from the roof at home. A mild concussion is all he's got, he'll be released pretty much whenever he wakes up." 

Aoko nodded against his chest, finally relaxing again. "I'll... talk to him. I don't know about what. But this... it's a big surprise. And he has at least **some** explaining to do." 

"I know. And so do we." He smiled as she glanced up at him, nearly curled in his lap again. "I miss talking with you, Aoko. I realize I haven't been home much for awhile..." 

"Heh... you heard me?" 

"Just a little, but it's true. I've been caught up in the whole Catch-the-Kid again since, well, we know. I can't make that up to you, but I can try to fix my behavior. I have quite a bit of vacation time coming to me, so... I'd like you to let me know when you would like to take some time off from school. I'd like to get to know my daughter a little better." 

She caught him in a tight hug, sniffling just a little. "Thank you..." 

Nakamori Ginzo's day was complete. _I've made her happy... twice in one day. Is this what I've missed, being away from her?_ His eyes were drawn back to the bed once more, and the slowly waking figure. _Now if only the boy will cooperate..._ He kissed his daughter on the top of her head, and rose from his seat. 

"I think I'll leave you two alone, now." He smiled as she turned around. _She really does care for him, though._ "I'll be in the cafeteria if you need me." 

"Arigato... for everything." 

He smiled before shutting the door. "Of course. Anything for you, musume." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

musume='daughter'

Aoko's precious memory - From the clocktower incident

The Red Thread quote comes from Kikyo (Inuyasha), actually. 

My first Kaitou fic... please be harsh. ^_~  
Based loosely off of Icka's wonderful "Hurt" (hope she doesn't mind!), playing with a few ideas - most of which didn't make it into here. It was originally going to be all from Hakuba's POV, but that didn't work out either. Aoko didn't want any screentime, but then her father insisted... 

Whether or not part two is written depends on how cooperative Kaito is... *sighs* 


	2. Winter Wishes

~*~*~*~

**Winter Wishes**  
by Sharo

~*~*~*~  


* * *

~*~*~*~  
{will you lift me up with tender care}  
{will you wash me clean in the palm of your hands}  
{will you hold me close so I can thrive}  
{when you touch me that's when I know I'm alive}  
~*~*~*~ 

They met in the silence of night, under only the eyes of the moon and stars, clad only with the familiar lies and barriers that separated them. 

She was the first to break the silence, sitting forward to hug cool arms around her knees.

"What's it like? To fly, I mean."

He blinked at the open sky, not quite sure he was understanding her question.

As if listening to the silence, she continued, still speaking to the moon.

"It must be nice, soaring above the city, higher than the cares of everyone you know." Another cloud passed before the glowing rock above them. "Is it different at night? Seeing everything in shades of black and gray and neon lights?"

He remained still on the roof, silent and somewhat confused, though his heart began to pick up its' tempo.

"I suppose it must be a thrill, knowing that you're the only one out there; that noone can drag you down from the sky." Her voice took on a dreamy tone, her eyes looking far into the distance. "A white bird, on a journey... I wonder where he's going..?

"I wonder if he's lonely, flying by himself?" 

~*~*~*~  
{down here in the valley}  
{every shadow you see}  
{has its own story}  
~*~*~*~ 

It had been a **long** while since Nakamori Aoko had thought about the Kid. About the jerk that taunted her father, constantly stole things, and made a general wreck of the police department, and consequently, her life. Everyone at school loved him, crowds cheered him on at the public heists, and even her best friend was infatuated by the low-life thief. 

~*~*~*~  
{down here in the valley}  
{every puddle of mud}  
{comes from tears and blood}  
~*~*~*~ 

It **was** lonely, Kuroba Kaito reflected, out on your own; no one to back you up or to depend on. No one to talk with, to boast to, to have smack you over the head with a mop when your ego got the best of you.

When your best friend hates who you are. Who you **chose** to be. 

~*~*~*~  
{and its so hard just to get warm}  
{that the chills just turn to despair}  
~*~*~*~ 

The moon watched over them on its brief journey across the night sky, seeming to chase the gathering clouds before it, not wanting the two hidden from its sight... 

_Nowhere to run tonight..._

"How l-long has it been? Since your first flight?"

The silence stretched out, encompassing even nature around them. The wind dropped to nothing, the trees stilled, the world ceased to breathe.

"I'll only ask tonight. I'll only ask once, and I only ask for the truth. If you chose not to answer, I'll believe that I'm asking the wrong person. I'll believe whatever lies you tell me, but don't ever ask me to trust you again..."

And the snow began to fall.

~*~*~*~  
{will you lift me up with tender care}  
{will you wash me clean in the palm of your hands}  
{will you hold me close so I can thrive}  
{when you touch me that's when I know I'm alive}  
~*~*~*~ 

His very presence still brought up more questions than were ever offered answers. 'Why **did** he steal things?' It wasn't an honest deal; some things he simply stole, then returned to the same owners. He wasn't just out to help people, like some church saint. And he practically **asked** the police to follow many of his heists - what kind of criminal did that? Oh, there were figures in modern literature that got away with nearly everything under the sun -and the inspectors' noses- but that was all fiction. Along with detectives that could solve cases from their easy chairs at home, deducing everything from a photograph and a cigar stub. They just didn't exist in real life.

But the Kaitou Kid did.

He stole things in 'style', with a magician's air and love for an audience. He was kind and polite, even while taunting and escaping the police in citywide chases. He commandeered a presence that spoke volumes of confidence and security, while unsecuring private properties.

What kind of friend was that? 

~*~*~*~  
{down here in the valley }  
{nothings able to grow}  
{is there light to hold}  
~*~*~*~ 

Her presence beside him shone like a beacon in his eyes - a savior, a condemner, an angel, a fallen soul, all in one. She alone held the power that could make him or break him; the only person on the planet that could tell him whether or not his life held any meaning at all.

Would she demand he give up the cloak, or never speak to the angel again? Even angels guarded the Tree of Life once Adam & Eve were cast from the Garden. Would she deny him his life at her side, or his life as the searching avenger?

What **was** more important - his angel, or his prize?

Would she make him chose again? 

~*~*~*~  
{folks spend their days}  
{digging up diamonds and gold}  
{'till they just get old}  
~*~*~*~ 

"I kept thinking about how I wanted to ask you, and every time I tried, all I wanted was for you to come out and tell me. No more lies, no more half-truths, but the real, honest story.

"And when everyone else pretended it never happened, so did you. Pretended that you didn't nearly sacrifice yourself for a chunk of rock. Pretended that no one else's feelings mattered, so long as they didn't know the full truth."

He beat her to the finish. "Pretended that it was too good to be true."

She didn't want to look at him. Looking would mean acknowledging **his** pain as well as her own. Would mean **accepting**... finally accepting the facts that had paraded themselves before her in the last few weeks.

She didn't want to admit... that she didn't hate him. 

~*~*~*~  
{and they don't know anything else}  
{they don't know they're breathing bad air}  
~*~*~*~ 

Even spoken so quietly, he knew she heard him. Knew she couldn't have missed the words had they been spoken only in his heart.

She **knew**

She knew. Had known, now. Yet she still talked to him, still went to school with him, still played out their mundane, everyday lives as if nothing had changed.

Of course, there hadn't been a heist in all that time. No mention of the Kid on the news, or in the papers. Nothing to force a reaction from her. From either of them. And they **needed** to react. That reassurance of motion resuming.

He could admit it to himself... that he was afraid of her. He was afraid of her reaction. 

~*~*~*~  
{but I'm tired of living like this}  
{and my soul cries out if you're there}  
~*~*~*~ 

_But she's still here. She's still waiting... for **you**._

He leaned back against the roof tiles, settling deeper into his warm coat and brushing snowflakes from his nose.

"Actually, it's beautiful at night."

His soft voice carried across the rooftop, rich in the cool air.

"The city is like a theme park in the moonlight. You can watch the lights of the highways bend around each other like twisting roller coasters, and the parks light like carousels -couples everywhere. Skyscrapers tower over the little suburbs like castles beside the booths. And the neon lights can lead you anywhere you want to go within the park."

His poignant sigh wasn't lost on his companion. "But a theme park **was** always better with two..."

She bit down on a smile even as tears slipped from her eyes. "Then why didn't you ever invite me?"

"Would you have said 'yes?'" He shook his head and sighed even as she thought about her answer. "Maybe I'm using the wrong analogy here. It's beautiful, yes. Exhilarating when you have the chance to see the world below you, when you're not tied to the ground by someone else's rules and choices, when you can move freely on your own. But it's so much more dangerous. There are no retakes. There are no safety nets; it's never a 'practice.' If you fail, you make sure you don't take anyone else with you. Because there's no recovery if you fall."

"That didn't seem to stop you."

"It stopped me from asking."

"Maybe it shouldn't have." 

~*~*~*~  
{will you lift me up with tender care}  
{will you wash me clean in the palm of your hands}  
~*~*~*~ 

She finally screwed up the courage to turn around and really **look** at him. Blue eyes met crimson across the longest distance of their lives. The future was uncertain, their hidden past only now coming to light. Like carousel horses tired of traveling in an even circle, they prepared to breach that final barrier. To break that last constant, to tear down the remaining rules that had governed their actions until this point.

They would start over. Maybe not from the beginning, but they would have to rework some things, now. Reevaluate their standards, reaffirm their boundaries, and compromise their positions. Their identities.

But they were willing to make it work. They held the future in their hands, and decided to hold on to each other, and make it stronger. 

~*~*~*~  
{will you hold me close so I can thrive}  
{when you touch me that's when I know I'm alive}  
~*~*~*~ 

And when he thought long and hard about it, that was all that mattered. She **was** willing to hear his story. She hadn't run.

And neither had he. 

~*~*~*~  
{will you lift me up with tender care}  
{will you wash me clean in the palm of your hands}  
{will you hold me close so I can thrive}  
{when you touch me that's when I know I'm alive}  
~*~*~*~ 

* * *

Sharo: *gushes* Thank you SOO much, Icka!! Chocolate helps, as well as bribes! And new fics as well. Think I missed the deadline for the contest, tho'...  
Kaito: *munching away on his chocolate bar*  
Sharo: *checks her pocket* Hey! That one was mine!!  
Kaito: Heh, mine now. Consider it advance payment since you've still gotta' write another chapter.  
Sharo: Hah! Who says there's another one?  
Kaito: *wags his finger* Ah, I saw you typing! You're working it out, and noone's gonna' let you drop it now!  
Sharo: ... Dangit...  



End file.
